The best traffic-free bike rides around Morancez

Of Romanesque origin, the church, surrounded by a cemetery, has a curious bell tower supported by machicolations and uprights of sandstone, making it one of the most unique in the region. Perhaps it was originally a bell gable, later augmented by a platform supported by these machicolations? In front of the entrance, a small building called a "caquetoire" (a small meeting place) allows the faithful to gather and converse. Inside the church, the furnishings date from the 18th and 19th centuries: a marble high altar and its gray-painted wooden altarpiece (18th century) – a painted wooden altarpiece of St. Joseph (late 18th or early 19th century) an altarpiece for the altar of the Virgin Mary (19th century) a baptismal font in red-veined marble (19th century) a waxed wooden pew (18th century) a waxed wooden choir stall upholstered in velvet paintings: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Octave Hauser (1839) and the Annunciation (18th century) The stained-glass windows date from 1874. The church and the eclipse A bit of history: The parish, established in the 13th century, was part of the deanery of Courville. The church's patron saint, Luperche or Luperchius, gave his name to the village. We must go back to the 4th century to find the first trace of this saint: At that time, Dacius, governor of the part of Spain that included Catalonia, Aragon, and the Kingdom of Valencia, was one of the most cruel ministers of persecution. Incited by the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, he had eighteen confessors of Jesus Christ executed in the city of Zaragoza. In their honor, the poet Prudentius wrote hymns, and among these confessors, a certain martyr named Luperche became the patron saint of our church.

The oldest document mentioning the Church of Saint-Martin in Fresnay-le-Comte is the charter of Renaud de Mouçon, Bishop of Chartres, confirming the possessions of the Abbey of Marmoutier, near Tours. This charter dates only from the last years of the 12th century, but the church's foundation may have already existed at that time. The building comprises two parts of roughly equal size and from different periods. The older part, roughly corresponding to the nave, is of a rather undefined style. The west portal, with its pointed arch devoid of any decoration, may date back to the 12th or 13th century, as may the first window of the nave, on the right. In the north wall, there is a small, walled-up doorway, whose lintel, adorned with an accolade, is no earlier than the 15th century, but the relieving arch above it appears older, perhaps from the 12th century. Half of the church, including almost the entire chancel, is from a more recent period and easily recognizable. The polygonal apse and the windows with their flamboyant tracery of late design indicate the very end of the 15th century. An inscription on one of the chancel's tie beams gives a precise date: In the year 1529, this chancel was completely rebuilt. The statue of the Virgin Mary was baptized during the Mass of October 30, 2021, by Father Pierre Paul. This statue, moved from the Chapel of the Three Marys in Mignières, was restored by Mr. Martial Moulin, a sculptor from Chartres.

The Church of Saint-Hilaire in Montainville is a religious monument located in the commune of Les Villages Vovéens. This place of worship, whose construction period is not specified in available sources, is an integral part of the local architectural landscape. Its name, Saint-Hilaire, suggests a dedication to a Christian saint, a common practice for medieval and modern churches, but no further information allows us to determine its exact origin or historical specifics. In the Centre-Val de Loire region, parish churches like Saint-Hilaire played a central role in community life, serving as places of prayer, gatherings, and social organization. Lacking precise data on this monument, it can be assumed that it fulfilled the traditional functions of rural religious buildings: celebrating religious services, administering the sacraments, and maintaining connections among the inhabitants. The dominant agricultural activities of the region often influenced the maintenance and use of these places, although it is not possible to assert a direct link with this particular church.

This church in Meslay-Le-Vidame, whose architecture reflects the formal language of antiquity, was dedicated to the patron saint of Saint Etienne. He was one of the first seven deacons of the original Jerusalem church and, according to the biblical accounts in the New Testament, the first martyr (martyr) of early Christianity. The church commemorates his death on Boxing Day, December 26th. As the Acts of the Apostles recounts: When Stephen recounted his vision of the open heavens, "And he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Chapter 7, Verse 55), the people were so outraged that they drove him out of the city and stoned him.

Unfortunately, the church was not accessible when I visited (mid-September 2024). You could only look in through a gate and the dance of death depictions on the left side were not really visible. In front of them were transparencies with skeleton drawings. Maybe those were the depictions...

The nave was built in the middle of the 12th century, as indicated by the Romanesque door under the bell tower, on the site of the first church destroyed in 858 by Hasting. The bell tower was built at the end of the 12th century. 18.40 m long by 8.75 m wide, it was flanked by eight chapels destroyed during the fire of March 15, 1568, as well as a large part of the building (after the passage of the Huguenots). Only two of these chapels have been preserved: on the left, it houses the baptismal funds with the statue of the Sacred Heart and on the right the old confessional. The building was next to the Saints Pères farm which depended on the Saint-Pierre de Chartres abbey, very powerful in the 12th century. It was undoubtedly a place of prayer very frequented by numerous monks, hence the number of chapels. After the fire of 1568, the lord of Ver, Messire BELOT, raised the destroyed part in 1572 and added an extension to the east, 14.50 m long and 8.75 m wide; two ogival windows illuminated this new part, while an immense wooden altarpiece masked the apse. In 1850, Father PROUST had the five neo-Gothic windows pierced which light the choir and it was the LORIN workshop which installed the glass roofs and the stained glass window of the apse. Finally, the chapel of the Holy Virgin was erected in 1866 by this same priest. The vault was renovated in 1980; Made from chestnut strips, it is the work of Mr. PELTIER, former companion of the Tour de France. The curiosity remains the sundial, on the interior facade above the entrance door, a dial which faces east. The patron saint of the parish is Saint Victur (or Victor), former bishop of Le Mans, represented by one of the statues near the old altar, while Saint Roch and Saint Barbara watch over the side chapels, near the fonts. On each side of the old altar, two shrines contain the relics of Saint Victur on the right and Saint Facundi Marcellus on the left. In the chapel of the Holy Virgin, two statues frame the altar: Mary, child with her mother Saint Anne and Jesus child carrying the world while the Virgin sits above with Jesus. This chapel receives light through three stained glass windows which represent the mysteries of the Rosary: joyful, painful and glorious mysteries, coming from the Carmelites of Le Mans. The central altar is from 1983; on the facade, the sculpted frieze of the Lamb comes from the old altar of the Carmelites of Chartres, given to the parish of Ver and which had become too dilapidated. Mr. COLAS, craftsman, carried out this beautiful work. To the left of the nave, opposite the pulpit, a wooden altarpiece frames Our Lady of Lourdes, while at Mary's feet, Saint Joan of Arc and little Thérèse of Lisieux keep watch. Opposite them, Saint Anthony of Padua searches with the stunned. Near the sacristy door, an altar is dedicated to the good Saint Joseph.

The Saint-Germain de Morancez church could date from the 10th century. Its cut stone facade is punctuated by four buttresses framing a portal. This is composed of three concentric arches resting on engaged columns, decorated with capitals. The zigzag decoration of the arches confirms a dating before the 12th century. The occulus surmounting the porch illuminates a semi-circular vaulted nave. This was enlarged with an aisle built much later and where there is an altar dedicated to the Virgin. The furniture remains simple but not without interest with its benches enclosed in painted wood. However, it is worth mentioning a sculpted pulpit from the 18th century. In 1707, the prior-parish priest of Morancez was Nicolas Courvoisier, religious of the Saint-Jean-en-Vallée abbey. A poet, he is notably the author of a Latin ode addressed to the people of Chartres on the death of Paul de Godet des Marais1. He died on May 14, 1742 in Morancez and was buried in the church. (his tombstone remains to be identified.) Although Morancez was a modest parish, in 1851 it benefited from a prestigious gift from Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I, governor of Les Invalides, then in residence at the Château de Gourdez. He offered the church a painting, Moses makes water flow from the rock, painted by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli between 1657 and 1660. This Italian artist had been called to decorate the cabinet called "At the water's edge" of the apartment of Queen Anne of Austria at the Louvre. He created a decor, now dismembered, composed of a set of six paintings devoted to the story of Moses, including the work, classified as a Historic Monument, preserved in our church. Another interesting work which could be attributed to the school of Philippe de Champaigne represents Jesus among the doctors. These two paintings benefited from a restoration in 1998

The church of Barjouville, without a transept, only includes a nave extended by a narrower choir. The north wall of the nave, with three small round-arched windows, dates from the 13th century. But this oldest sanctuary was burned, along with many others in the region, by the mercenaries of the Huguenot army on March 15, 1568 when they had to lift the siege of the city of Chartres, due to a truce, while they were about to enter through a breach made near the Drouaise gate. The reconstruction lasted almost thirty years (the village was poor) and ended with the installation of the bell, melted in August 1598; it is one of the oldest in the department. To the south, the nave is lit by three bays of different sizes and the choir by two others. The bedside, flat, has three semi-circular bays equipped with stained glass windows installed by the Lorin workshops in 1873 and representing the Sacred Heart, Saint James the Major and Saint Laumer. In one of the bays of the choir, fragments of stained glass have been grouped into two square panels, one representing Saint Nicholas and the three children saved from the salt room and the other, undoubtedly, Saint Christopher carrying the child Jesus on his shoulders to cross the river. Note two statues of Saint James which could be from the 16th century and a Saint Leonard, unfortunately covered with a brown wash. Three processional sticks carry naive-style statues of the Virgin, Saint James and Saint Christopher. Finally, a large painting, which hung at the back of the church, is currently being restored. It is a copy, probably from the 17th century, of a “Madonna and Child with Saint Anne” from 1610 by Carlo Saraceni, the original of which is in the National Museum of Rome (Palace Barberini). Work should soon take place to secure the roof and the bell tower and remove the false ceiling which distorts the interior proportions of the church.